Sunshine in Kansas! in Favorite Pictures

I am not usually a huge fan of sunflowers. They represent bat-shit crazy heat, which I can live without. But on my way to work, I caught a glimpse of cornflower blue (one of my favorite colors), and pulled over to the side of the road. What a beautiful combination!

Remember the rose from the other day? I went back to check it out, and there before me - an untidy looking bush of ...well....not the gorgeous roses of a week ago, that's for sure. No tightly cupped petals, no gently bloomed buds. For lack of a better term, they looked wind-blown, and spent. 'Oh.....they're all dead' was my first thought, but I would not be denied my picture, so I snapped a few.

What I have learned is that sometimes, in order to appreciate or even love the imperfect, I must abandon the expectations of perfection.